Flood can't stop holiday tournament at Marseilles

MARSEILLES — The Marseilles Holiday Tournament is one of the most unique tournaments in the state of Illinois in that it takes place in a town that doesn't even have a high school.

Instead, the entire four-day event is held at Marseilles Elementary School, a quirk that almost wasn't possible for the first time in the tournament's five-year history.

The gym at the school, along with a handful of classrooms, the cafeteria, and the boiler room were ruined after April floods swept through the area and caused the Illinois River to expand into the town of just over 5,000 residents.

"All summer long people would see me and ask, 'Are we going to have the tournament?'," said principal/athletics director Jeff Owens. "It is a big focal point for this community."

The gym floor, which at one time held a foot of standing water on top of it, had to be completely replaced after the moisture caused bowing of the wooden surface and created a "three-foot (wooden) dome at the south end" according to Owens.

The metal and plastic bleachers were saved, but the electronic motors that power them along with the wooden planks where patrons put their feet had to be replaced.

The complete project, including the cafeteria and boiler room, cost over $5.5 million, but that wasn't the only thing officials were worried about.

The gym was finally completed in late November, and talks had already started as to where the tournament was going to move if it would have taken any longer than that.

Ottawa Marquette, which is the host school of the event, was going to hold the games at its high school.

"We were going to do that for a year," Owens said. "Was it going to be perfect? No. Their court's a little smaller than ours, and there's not a lot of room in the stands, but we would have got through it."

A move would have been just another shockwave the flood delivered to the town.

"Business-wise, people are going to stop and get gas, they're going to stop and eat at a restaurant," Owens said of the impact the event has on the community, "It's become a big deal for Marseilles. We have a very nice facility, and people in town take pride in that, showing off this facility.

"Yes, we're a grade school and don't have a high school, so for the sports fans in town it gives them eight games a day for four days, 32 games they can sit and watch and not leave the confines of Marseilles," Owens said. "It gives them something that they don't regularly get."

Page 2 of 2 - The tournament will run Thursday through Saturday, with the final day of play coming Monday. Putnam County earned a unanimous No. 1 seed, while area teams Hall, Kewanee and Midland will also participate.

Josh Herman can be reached at 686-3214 or jherman@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshHermanPJS.